Though the iPad has traditionally been targeted as a consumer device, Apple’s popular tablet has increasingly gained traction among the corporate world as a business tool. That can present challenges for IT professionals who have to maintain and secure the iPad. Fortunately, Apple does provide a helping hand for admins who find themselves called upon to support the tablet among their user population.

Apple’s Web site on the “iPad in Business” offers a wealth of information and a variety of in-depth support documents for IT pros who need to “integrate, secure, and deploy” the tablet within their corporate halls and networks.

The site starts off with a document on deployment scenarios, specifically covering how to integrate the iPad within a corporate network. Those of you who run a Microsoft Exchange shop can learn how to set up the iPad to connect to your corporate e-mail via Microsoft’s Exchange ActiveSync. Those of you who allow external access to your network using VPNs can determine how to configure an iPad to use VPN to securely connect to your network. This document also covers the use of the WPA2 Enterprise protocol to encrypt Wi-Fi connections to your network. Other sections focus on how to set up security in general and to manage the deployment of iTunes.

The site also offers smaller documents taken from the larger Deployment Scenarios document to drill down to more specific topics. The Security document looks at how to set up and enforce security policies, how to restrict certain iPad features, and how to encrypt and secure the data stored on the iPad. A series of documents on Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, VPN, and Wi-Fi cover each of those areas.

Of potential value to IT pros and their users, a supplemental page called “iPad at Work” looks at different ways to use the tablet on the job, including giving presentations, accessing files, conducting mobile meetings, and collaborating on the same content. Another page on iPad Customer Stories offers a peek at how other businesses are using the iPad internally.

As demand for the iPad grows within the business world, IT is increasingly being called upon to support and secure it. Any IT professional who needs to maintain the tablet among their user base should find some useful information at Apple’s iPad for Business site.

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